Nanny has Covid, how to handle sick leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who employs a wonderful nanny, this question makes me sad and irritated. It’s a salaried job. She is sick. She gets paid until she’s better. Isn’t that how your salaried job works?? You sound like a lousy employer, TBH.

I actually don’t know about DMV but in Massachusetts it’s illegal for nannies to be salaried. They have to be hourly and overtime eligible.

Also my husband and I are both salaried and do not get unlimited sick time.

That said, I completely agree with you about what to do. I just don’t think the question is absurd.

I would say — recognize that as the employer you are the privileged party and you have some power to be the change you want to see in the world, assuming COVID is helping us all to realize how vital adequate sick time is. Also, I know it varies but many of us have ways to flex our time/WFH when sick; nannies do not; generosity is the way to go here; etc.; etc.

[Anonymous]

As there is nothing in her current contract I would pay her while she is recovering from covid assuming she will only be out another week or so, but I would probably acknowledge that you should put something in her contract about fully paid sick leave going forward. I would research what the standard is and figure it out from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who employs a wonderful nanny, this question makes me sad and irritated. It’s a salaried job. She is sick. She gets paid until she’s better. Isn’t that how your salaried job works?? You sound like a lousy employer, TBH.

What on earth are you talking about? I don't have unlimited sick leave at my salaried job. And most nannies are not salaried. Maybe you should work on being so sad and irritated by a harmless question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who employs a wonderful nanny, this question makes me sad and irritated. It’s a salaried job. She is sick. She gets paid until she’s better. Isn’t that how your salaried job works?? You sound like a lousy employer, TBH.

This is OP. We give 22 paid vacation days a year. We also pay 40 hours a week no matter what, even when she leaves early for a doctors appointment etc. We pay over $30 for two kids and medical, dental and vision. My question was how much paid sick leave to provide. I have never worked in a job where I've gotten unlimited sick leave and I don't think that's standard. You are really unnecessarily rude and presumptuous.

[Anonymous]

We paid our nanny her full amount even though she didn’t work for a week when we got COVID. We still got paid by our employers, so why would we stop paying her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid our nanny her full amount even though she didn’t work for a week when we got COVID. We still got paid by our employers, so why would we stop paying her?

You realize that not everyone gets paid by their employers if they don't go in, right? Certain physicians, for example? Therapists or nurses? Contract workers? This is pretty privileged and naïve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid our nanny her full amount even though she didn’t work for a week when we got COVID. We still got paid by our employers, so why would we stop paying her?

This is op. I'm not asking about what to pay for the last week, which I've already paid her for. I'm asking about long term sick leave. Someone above answered about how they structure it.

[Anonymous]

Early the pandemic we wrote a covid clause in our contract. I think we had 12 standard sick days and then the covid clause was 21 days of paid leave for covid related absence (which could also include her being gone to take care of her kids). But in reality, if she had needed more than that we would have kept paying her. However having something in the contract gave us a backstop if at some point things went off the rails. Later, once the vaccines came out we took out the covid clause and decided to play things by ear.

It’s a reasonable question OP. I’d tell her to stay home another week no matter what - I wouldn’t want my kids around someone who had covid within 14 days. And if she gets really sick then no issue paying for week 3. After that i think it’d be reasonable to assess when she’s likely to come back or if you can afford to keep paying, especially if you’re also paying a backup sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:she's not going to infect you after day 5 but I would pay her until she feels well enough to work. I suspect if you tell her you'll take care of her until she feels well enough to work that if she a good person she will respond with gratitude and not take advantage.

I would pay her until she tests negative. The day 5 thing is just a guess/approximation. Many still test positive after day 5.

dear god do not do this. you can test positive for weeks and even months later. just pay her until she is well enough to return. should not be more than another week and that is a worst case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:she's not going to infect you after day 5 but I would pay her until she feels well enough to work. I suspect if you tell her you'll take care of her until she feels well enough to work that if she a good person she will respond with gratitude and not take advantage.

I would pay her until she tests negative. The day 5 thing is just a guess/approximation. Many still test positive after day 5.

dear god do not do this. you can test positive for weeks and even months later. just pay her until she is well enough to return. should not be more than another week and that is a worst case.

This. Definitely don’t expect a negative test.

I know a lot of employees have a fixed number of sick days, but this is largely to avoid conflict between employees and supervisors. For a nanny, with whom you’re going to need a mutually trusting relationship, you ought to be able to just have a policy of paid days off while too sick to work. If they try to abuse such a policy, deal with it as a work performance issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she vaccinated?

Can we all stop constantly asking this question? 🤦🏻‍♀️ In this area, where basically all adults are vaccinated, most of the people getting covid (and we know there are a lot) are vaccinated. A lot are boosted (in my personal world, I am probably aware of 50 people who have gotten covid in he last few months. All the ones I know in this area were boosted if eligible and were up to date on vaccines. The 3 I know in NJ who got it were vaccinated but not boosted adult and 2 unvaccinated (but eligible) kids. The two unvaccinated kids were only diagnosed bc of rapid testing/test to stay and were the least affected of anyone... including compared to my vaccinated/boosted family who got omicron in Jan from a boosted and asymptomatic relative...we all had variations of bad colds and they were asymptomatic).

Op, I have a few pragmatic suggestions:
* Provide 5 or 10 pd sick days. 5 is reasonable if you expect her to come back assuming she feels ok and wears a high quality mask for an additional 5 days as per the CDC rec (or a mask until she rapid tests negatives or whatever). During that time, try to increase ventilation when she is in your home, if she drives your kids, have her drive with open windows etc. 10 was what the CDC was originally saying (no mask necessary)

*Are your kids under 5 or in settings where you have to worry about them being close contacts? This may impact your specific decisions.

*If your kids test positive for covid in a few days, you might have her come back on day 6 regardless (or earlier if she feels ok). Since they would all have covid together, you don't have to worry about infection/her getting infected while caring for them.

If she is sick longer, that is a different issue. But most people feel mostly fine within a few days.

[Anonymous]

I would offer at least another week at full pay.

[Anonymous]

How long has she been with you and does she talk a lot of sick days? I’ve been with my nanny family for four years and up until I got covid, I had only taken 1 sick day and was super reliable. I got it from my husband who works at an urgent care before vaccines were available. Thankfully over Xmas break and didn’t infect the family. I was out for three weeks, and my employers paid me the entire time. I never took sick days and was a hard worker, so they continued to pay me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay her when she’s sick. Give her the time she needs. Otherwise she has to choose between going without pay and exposing you to her illness.

Ok, we will do this. Thank you.

Why do you even need to ask?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who employs a wonderful nanny, this question makes me sad and irritated. It’s a salaried job. She is sick. She gets paid until she’s better. Isn’t that how your salaried job works?? You sound like a lousy employer, TBH.

I’m almost 50 with a PhD. I have never had unlimited sick leave at any of my salaried jobs. This is not the norm in most industries.